African-American golf great Calvin Peete dead at 71

African-American golf great Calvin Peete has died at the age of 71, according to WSB-TV in Atlanta.

Born in Detroit on July 18, 1943, Peete became the most successful black golfer on the PGA Tour before the career of Tiger Woods, notching 12 wins. He won four times in 1982, finishing fourth on the money list that year. He also had two-win seasons in 1983, '85 and '86.

Peete was a member of the 1983 and '85 Ryder Cup teams, earning a 4-2-1 mark. He won the 1984 Vardon Trophy, given to the player with the lowest scoring average on the PGA Tour.

Despite suffering from a broken arm as a child that was never set right, Peete was one of the most accurate drivers of the ball in PGA Tour history. For 10 years, from 1981-1990, Peete led the Tour in driving accuracy. In 1983, he hit an astounding 84.55 percent of fairways in 87 PGA Tour rounds.

Peete posted three top-four finishes in the majors, including a T-3 finish in the 1982 PGA, and T-4 efforts in the 1983 U.S. Open and 1984 PGA.

SUBSCRIBE & WIN A BRIDGESTONE GOLF BAG!

New subscribers to our weekly email newsletter in May will be entered to win a Bridgestone Golf Spring edition stand bag!

Email Address

Rules and regulations: By submitting your email address, you agree to join both the Golf News Net and Bridgestone Golf email lists. To be eligible for our prizes, you must remain a subscriber on our list through the end of the contest month. If your email address disappears, it worked!

About the author

Golf News Net

We use the Golf News Net byline sometimes just to change things up. But, it's one of us humans writing the story, we promise.

Sometimes we post sponsored content from this account, and it is labeled as such. We also occasionally include links to products and services from which we could make a small percentage of a sale through affiliate programs.

GNN Links

New subscribers to our weekly email newsletter in May will be entered to win a Bridgestone Golf Spring edition stand bag!

Rules and regulations: By submitting your email address, you agree to join both the Golf News Net and Bridgestone Golf email lists. To be eligible for our prizes, you must remain a subscriber on our list through the end of the contest month.